Rookie Brendan Lemieux notched another first in the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 win over Dallas, Thursday: his first NHL scrap.

He sat alone at his dressing room stall while the stars took their turns in front of the media, a couple of welts on his face not hiding the look of satisfaction of a job well done.

Rookie Brendan Lemieux notched another first in the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 win over Dallas, Thursday: his first NHL scrap.

And while it didn’t produce the exuberant celebration that his first goal did four days earlier, it drew as hearty a cheer from a hometown crowd that probably never guessed it would embrace a member of the Lemieux family quite like this.

The embrace is mutual.

“It’s been a blast,” Claude’s 21-year-old son said of his first half dozen games in the NHL. “It’s being on the big stage. It’s something you’ve dreamed about your whole life. And it’s competing for the Stanley Cup. Every night you’re chipping away at the ultimate goal, which is making the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup.

“So to be a piece of that, even if you’re a small piece, is really rewarding.”

The game provided a nice little snapshot of what Lemieux can bring the Jets at this early stage of his career.

In 9:33 of ice time, his highest total yet, playing on a fourth line with Matt Hendricks and Joel Armia, the stocky fireplug also drew a crowd when he got into the grill of Stars goalie Ben Bishop five minutes into the second period.

Taking the goaltender’s special – a blocker/stick combo with a scrum and facewash on top – Lemieux kept his cool, not something he was known for as a junior.

The penalties evened out.

Just like in his first-period fight with Gemel Smith.

“They were down 2-0 and he wanted it off the faceoff,” Lemieux said, a handful of reporters now around him. “I tried to be smart and keep the momentum on our side. I saw they took that penalty there. He came over and gave me a shot. That’s kind of my job – I’m not going to back down from anyone.

“I decided, well, if I’m gonna fight, I better win.”

He definitely threw more punches than he took, while the Jets got a power-play goal from Tyler Myers and were off to the races, up 3-0.

“Obviously the timing of it, you’ve got to be careful about, winning 2-0 in the game,” Lemieux said. “But sometimes you can use it as energy, and that’s what we were able to do… so I was happy to contribute.”

Someone in Lemieux’s role won’t win you games. But they can cost you.

The fact the Jets are 4-0-2 since he was called up doesn’t hurt his chances of staying, even when Adam Lowry rejoins the lineup, likely for Saturday’s tilt with the Habs.

“As a line we weren’t great, but we were solid,” Lemieux said. “That’s how you build trust with the coaching staff, is just being solid, consistent. We weren’t playing against bad players. I mean, Jason Spezza’s obviously a great player, and we were matched up against him for the majority of the game.

“And he didn’t get anything against us, so that’s what we’re looking to do.”

Acquired in the Evander Kane trade with Buffalo, Lemieux was as impatient to reach the NHL as any early-round draft pick would be.

An injury-shortened first pro season with the Manitoba Moose forced patience on him.

He went down to the AHL to start this season with a whole different mindset.

“It was about gaining confidence and tightening up my game,” he said. “So that’s what I did at the beginning of the year, and that just showed the brass that this kid’s ready, he’s confident, he’s going to make those plays and he obviously has that fourth-line, third-line type game that’s hard to play against.

“Guys don’t necessarily love playing against guys like me, and that’s why I’m in the NHL. Roussel on their side (Dallas) has kind of made a name for himself doing something similar. I’m just starting.”

If desire and hard work are big parts of making a career in the NHL, Lemieux is well on his way. You only had to drop in at the end of a Moose practice and wait for him to get off the ice to see that.

Now that he’s here with the Jets, a blocker to his face isn’t about to dissuade him from crashing the next crease he sees, either.

“No,” Lemieux said, the ensuing grin, like the welts, not going anywhere for a while.

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